Got the link from the EDSBS twitter. Deadspin is putting a lot on the line with an article like this so I hope they've done their homework. It does raise a few flags when a picture of "her" is someone else entirely. Take it FWIW.

Thread is going back up with profit's approval after a quick discussion between us, especially with CBS Radio picking it up. There will probably be a few of the subsequent threads deleted; I'll explain each that I take down in the Moderator Action Stickey.

As a quick reminder, please keep comments to the standards we've come to expect from the MGoBoard. JGB

Edit two: I didn't take down the other threads, so the promised explanations didn't happen in the sticky. If you think a thread was taken down in error, I apologize, but it's now disappeared into the internet. From what I saw, most had served their purpose when this thread was unlocked. JGB.

First Rudy was off-sides then years later goes to jail. The ND nation is stunned when they realize that they have worshipped a criminal, a felon.

Then secondly Teo invents an internet GF so people will feel sorry for him? Say what? Are there no hot women in SB? Hell I even seen some cute Nuns in my day. WTF Teo???

All of this from a religious school which prides itself on integrity. Then to top it off, the school releases a statement saying Teo was a "victim" of a hoax and doesnt come clean? Now the Administration is covering for a liar, which in turn, makes them a lair. And we get curcified because Chris announced he was going pro and then took money BEFORE he dropped his classes. If Chris went to the Registrars Office first and then took an envelope full of cash in the hallway, there would not be a problem.

What in God's name is going on over there in SB? If we cant trust ND to be perfect, who can we trust? .../s

I agree with what you did FWIW...Trying to Protect the Brand (like Notre Dame, as they're currently doing, zing). People need to not freak out that they aren't able to communicate about something on internet message boards (no offense, mongoose0614).

I can understand frustration with our work at times, but this is subjective stuff. I can promise you every way I know how that profitgoblue acted in good faith and tried to use his best judgment for the welfare of the site and the board. We both make our mistakes, but I think comparing our actions here to North Korea is a little on the extreme end.

If you disagree with something we've done, that's completely fine with us; you can say something directly to profit or myself (politely, please) in a thread, you can call something to our/the staff's attention on the moderator action sticky, or you can email Brian (contact information at the top of the page).

idea that something is true before this place blows up. I can go to MLive and catch that if I so desire. Once we have something solid on which to base our posts, we can still invoke RR (Rudy and the Rest) to our hearts content.

Hail to the Mod Team. I also notice that they stayed right on top of this, and unlocked it when it was evident those noxious fumes were the result of a tire fire.

Yeah, there is absolutely no way they won't use the Catfish(online relationship with a fake person) defense here. Reading through it though, there's too many holes to really believe thatdefense, after all he claimed he met her in person.

Yes that is the kicker. All the stuff about him falling asleep at night listening to the sound of her breathing, and waking up the next morning and she is still on the phone. I would love to hear him try to explain that one.

Although that would be true if he was not a part of it. He said they met in person and talked every night on the phone, if this were true, then who was he talking to? Also, the fact that he was friends with the guy who created it is sketchy. But the thing that most stands out to me is the fact that they showed her "picture" hundreds of times on tv and he never once said, "That's not her." Something he surely would have had he met her in person, as he claimed. Not conclusive, but enough for me to say with confidence that, at the very least, he was not being entirely honest about this situation.

Notre Dame Statement: Manti Te’o

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators. Dennis Brown University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President

So....Te'o got catfished I take it? I guess my only question how does one deeply "fall in love" with someone while apparently now never meeting them? Te'o just seems way to smart for something like that.

I think he's implying that there is a rumor (speculation) that a fake long-distance girlfriend would be a handy cover for someone who, due to being an athlete and a Mormon, didn't want to get specific about his real reasons why he didn't seem to be dating anyone despite his enormous popularity.

If that is the true reason behind it, it becomes (for me at least) more understandable. As StephenRJKing stated, being Morman and an athlete (moreso a football player) would put an incredible strain to hide that aspect of your life. If he was part of the hoax, I believe he still gets drafted in the first round....being gay...he may drop hard in the draft simply bc no one wants to witness the first openly gay rookie in an NFL lockerroom experiment. Unfortunate and unreal...

Didn't she also visit him in Hawaii? There's got to be a point where he realized that she was actually his guy friend. Or that some girl that was paid to pretend to be her didn't look like her pictures. Or he was part of it.

Just a devil's advocate type deal, but let's say Teo was all middle school in love with this online chick, then he finds out she's sick or whatever happened, and is too embarrassed to admit its an online chick. She goes to Stanford so what better time to say they were together. Now everything is a steaming pile of poo, but he coulda just fibbed on something that seemed at the time insignificant. Now I dont necessarily believe this, but it seems possible, eh?

I will give you the following things: love and adoration by all of the ND faithful, any chick in South Bend you want, and access to the internet where you can blindly trust a username and picture that could be absolutely anyone. You know you'd test the waters online, dont lie.

At the VERY LEAST, he knew he was being played months before anything was public. Then her funeral never happened and Te'o cooked up some excuse for not being there; he had to have known it was a hoax then.

Yeah, that's the point. Maybe I'm just getting to the age where I'm realizing this happens all the time, but it bothers me when there are no consequences to amorality or unethical behavior as long as no rules are broken. Te'o and ND benefitted from a lie, but since there are no rules against fabricating, or at the very minimum greatly exaggerating, a media story that paints you in a very positive light, nothing will happen. Maybe the all the awards he got get stripped, but I doubt that happens, but at least it's something.

Hold on. Should a guy be stripped of his awards because he lied about having a girlfriend? This story raises some questions about him as a person, but not as a player. On the field, he earned his hype (at least until the Alabama game). He didn't actually gain from this other than sympathy. He'll now be dogged by this story forever - a lot longer than the four months of goodwill he got from the story.

Well then we just disagree on whether he earned it on the field. He was good, but I do not think he was as good as some other players who were finalists. He had good tackle numbers, but hardly any TFLs and sacks, what are usually considered the stats that set apart good from great. Did Kovacs then deserve any awards for having a billion tackles in 2010? I think it's naive to believe he didn't get votes based on all he 'overcame' during the season and his strength if character. Heck, they were just talking a bit ago about how Heisman voters voted for him because of this. He seems to have benefited personally from this whole fabrication, and nothing will happen, and that's what I'm angry about.

"news" organizations are much more obsessed with throwing out something quickly and clickable, rather than truly newsworthy. Got suckered into this a few days ago when I thought I was stuck in a traffic jam due to a fatal accident of a person in a disabled car next to the highway. Turned out it was a serious accident, but not fatal, and not from a disabled car by the side of the highway, and they had the time of the incident off by nearly an hour. At least the "news" outlet published a correction the next day.

It would be fun to have ESPN publish corrections to every Te'o story they've done with the correct information (once we know it...).

That statement is pretty cryptic. I guess my biggest issue is how is this a hoax on Te'o? Didn't he talk about his girlfriend in interviews? Would you consider someone you never met your girlfriend? For his own sake, he needs to come clean on the details.

So Te'o got Catfished. What an unbelievably shitty thing to do to a person. His grandmother dies and some creepy dude running a fake profile piles more shit on him. I wouldn't want to be in that persons shoes right now, lol

Even if he got "Catfished," he still was guilty of spinning their relationship into something a lot bigger than a little internet exchange. He referred to her as his "girflfriend," which usually implies a lot more than "girl I chat with online but haven't met yet."

Its tough to say you got "Catfished" when you claim to have met her in person, talked to on the phone all the time and your parents claim you saw her in Hawaii. Plus, if she was a student at Stanford, what are the odds you would have never seen her when they played there in 2011?

According to ND, they found out on December 26 that Te'o was a victim of a hoax.

So here's what I'm wondering: did the story of his girlfriend dying get play during the runup to the title game. I admit, I didn't watch any of the coverage nor the game itself since I had no interest.

I've already fallen for you, baby. In case you plan to die soon, please give me detailed instructions about whether or not I should stay with the team and play hard and "honor you" in the event of your death. CBS and other media outlets may want to show a screenshot of them.

The deadspin guy found the girl in the picture and she explains that she had absolutely nothing to do with this and how her image was obtained. There is no way Manti didn't know or at the very least lie about many things.

Te'o is a total fraud. He knew. There is no doubt. He talks about meeting her in previous articles and now he didn't. No one will ever believe a word he says again. This is going to do irreparale harm to ND. We'll see how good that class is next year. He almost stole the heisman on a fraud. Think Kelly might want to rethink his decision.

This was my initial reaction too. I read the "facts" and couldn't believe that this was how they were proving that it was a hoax. Of course, I overreacted a bit but I still don't really understand what the f-ck is going on here.

I think he's stating that none of the mainstream media outlets did the work that Deadspin -a blog and non-MSM medium- did; and that is a shame (especially if all of this is true). I sort of concur that the facts in the story aren't exactly courtroom worthy but if much is true this is a damning story (again, one that the MSM never even bothered to fact check into).

You don't think the Deadspin article was sufficiently thorough? Read it again and look at how many different people they quote, all the legal information they dug up . . . they even found the woman whose photo was used for the fake girlfriend's image! I don't understand why you don't find it convincing. It was convincing enough for all the major media outlets to pick it up within hours and ND/Te'o to release statements.

I think they did a hell of a job with this story and I give major kudos to the authors.

What really got me was the list of the different media outlets that reported varying dates of death (and apparently made up a city that doesn't exist... Associated Press, I'm looking at you). Embarassing. It's times like this that make me glad I left the journalism business -- all too often now, it's about sensationalized stories rather than actual news.

I'm sorry for asking what may be a dumb question, so what is the actual truth? I'm asking because I live real near south bend. I remember when the story first came out about Teo's grandma and his girlfriend, and that was early in the football season. So did I just not hear manti or anyone claiming that his girlfriend never died? or did they just let the local news run with it all the way until the 26th when it was reported, because thats what it seems to me. This is a very unusal situation

I wonder what kind of investigation ND really did. We can be sure the media are going to go over everything Te'o said about her with a fine-toothed comb. There were plenty of stories with information that doesn't fit the hoax perpetrated on Te'o angle. Who were the sources for the details on how and when they met and her visits to Hawaii?

So you mean to tell me the media sobbed and constantly brought up this dead girlfriend over and over and over and she never existed?

Brent Musberger practically cried for this guy during ND's game with Sparty. And the following week after Denard threw about a hundred interceptions, she was brought up again right before ND's victory formation.

The dude can play football so he's still worth it to just about any team. Should he prove to have any involvement in the hoax though, expect that he'll be discussed as a guy with "character issues" and we all know what that means...ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 Detroit Lions 1st round draft pick...

I wonder when Kelly knew this story was going to break, and If it had anything to do with him interviewing for the Eagles' job.

The alumni base is not going to be happy and, if this story turns out to be true, I can hardly blame them. It is just one thing after the other that seems to happening in South Bend and all of the instances are very ugly.

No way he's a victim. Allegedly a family friend behind the fake twitter and such. His parents tied into it. If deadspin's investigation is as thorough as it seems he had to have known. Te'o can't be that naive.

I now believe that we never walked on the moon, 9/11 was an inside job, and Sandy Hook was a farce...

oh wait, I already believed all these things. The only question I have left is: Is there any form of media that isn't a form of manipulation and distortion of the 'facts' in order to sell a better narrative of humanity?

You and your brethern have been sent by a secret Soviet cabal to spread disinformation among the American populace about events in the American experience. You are doing this to sow discontent that will eventually loosen the societal glue that binds the nation. This will, you hope, render America a weakened state highly vulnerable to attack.

Your nefarious designs are obvious to all. You want to destroy America. The truth is there for all to see.

A house divided cannot stand. That is a truism your cabal has embraced. You are seeking to divide us by manipulating the large mass of nincompoops who inhabit this country into believing the most absurd theories propounded by Man. Theories that make the Greek mythos look positively scientific by comparison.

I would say the people in "society" that perform the events that lead to these other peoples digging into and finding out why they happened (whether they're making up theories or not), are much, much more mentally unstable. (edit: sorry JGB, I'm done too)

Amen J-don, I couldn't agree more. We are lied to so much by the msm, it is hard to know WTF is true and what is false. This is a huge sports story, but it also highlights how easily we as the public are so easily deceived and lied to. I don't know about sandy hook being fake, but that medical examiner and that Gene Rosen character creep me the f out. Also creepy is Obama trotting out children to gain sympathy for his unconstitutional gun control EO's. Anyone who wants to see blatant media lies, just YouTube CNN faking gulf war attacks or Syrian dan, it is so bad that it is laughable.
This story just cracks me up because I never liked Te'o, and like Tressel, I am LOLing my ass off at this story

Amen J-don, I couldn't agree more. We are lied to so much by the msm, it is hard to know WTF is true and what is false. This is a huge sports story, but it also highlights how easily we as the public are so easily deceived and lied to. I don't know about sandy hook being fake, but that medical examiner and that Gene Rosen character creep me the f out. Also creepy is Obama trotting out children to gain sympathy for his unconstitutional gun control EO's. Anyone who wants to see blatant media lies, just YouTube CNN faking gulf war attacks or Syrian dan, it is so bad that it is laughable.
This story just cracks me up because I never liked Te'o, and like Tressel, I am LOLing my ass off at this story

Your explanation may actually be the closest thing to the truth so far. Sometimes people, especially those with a small selection of data points to show them otherwise, make really bad choices and its too big before they figure it out, i.e. kids lie because they don't see how big the explosion is when lies go bad. Unfortunate if true but it doesn't really make him any more of a sympathetic figure. He's already forfeited that position.

You think it's perfectly understandable that someone would manufacture a story about a dying girlfriend? While milking it for attention and glory while also linking it with the death of a family member? Are you kidding me? This is a sick as it comes, hoax wise.

I certainly don't mean to imply there is anything about a hoax of that nature that could be considered understandable. Generally speaking, I don't understand people that lie/cheat/steal. Most people, I think, are similar in this respect. All I mean to say is that it is plausible a little bad idea snowballed into being a catastrophically large bad idea, and I think it is the most likely explanation unless we are going to go all in and decide that he is either a pathological liar or just plain evil.

This is a really good point and has a really good chance of being the truth. The claims that he was in no way invovled seem far fetched. The claims that he did all this to raise his publicity seem even more far fetched. I think the most likely thing is what you speculate. But man, whomever decided to kill this fake woman off made a real dumb choice. They should have just broken up.

Well said. As effed up all of this is to us, the hoax (which I believe) is likely to have originated as something small that blew up all of a sudden and to go backwards and "fix" everything would have been a huge blow and it just continued...now here we are. It's screwy as hell but I wish no harm to Manti for all of this nonsense.

But how would he ever come off as "ruthless or scheming" when basically all we know about him is the puff pieces that ND fed the media about him? I mean, how many college athletes are there that you can actually say, "what a scumbag" about? In the pros it's a little different - the media goes after them a lot more. At the college level, the media still basically protects them.

Of course we all assumed Te'o was a good guy - the media has spent the last six months hammering that point home in our heads. But it could be a sham. It sounds like not only he but also his family was involved in this, which opens up a lot of character questions.

You know...after a bit of thought, I think I agree. Unless there is some proof that this is a sociopathic Armstrong situation (topical reference!), I can imagine a situation where this spirals out of control. Especially if it was put in place in the first place to be a beard. You're 21 or 22, you're on the down-low, you're coming from a Mormon household, playing for a Catholic university that is having its best year in decades, and you look to be a top-ten pick. You've got a LOT to hide if you're gay, and maybe you do something incredibly stupid to stay closeted.

Nothing but pure speculation, but I could see that as being a plausible backdrop to this. The irony is to think how empowering it would be if he had come out this season. "Hi I'm gay and I'm going to be defensive Heisman contender." You would have to have massive stones for doing it, and I think the recognition of that courage would outweigh the obvious negatives. But no one has done it before (in college football), and it would take the right kind of kid. And T'eo may not have wanted to be that martyr.

What couild he have done to come off as ruthless or scheming? I have a hard time imagining anything we would have been able to see. On the other hand, we may be getting a true glimpse of his character now. If he is a "decent" guy who made a really bad decision, what is he doing now? He's playing the victim and blaming someone else. I have a very hard time finding shades of gray in his behavior if he was in on this.

Am I the only person who read the article and at least entertained the possibility (baseless rumor upcoming) that Te'o might have been having a romantic relationship with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo but wasn't willing to come out of the closet at conservative Notre Dame--and that this historic lapse in judgment descended from that?

Remember, I did use the words "at least entertain," "possibility," and "baseless rumor." Having said that, I *usually* expect something like this will rise out of a reason, hence my searching for a reason, some stressor, and that seemed to fall into place in every way except the one about proof. Other putative motives exist, but this one stands out to my instincts. I hope Manti gives a presser eventually, though I predict it won't be for a long time, maybe years.

Maybe ND is less conservative than I imagined (though, shooting from the hip, I might additionally suggest it's less liberal than you just expressed). Even if so, that does little to nothing to make the "Closeted Te'o" hypothesis inconceivable.

y plausible but completely baseless story is that he genuinely thought he was talking to this girl online but had never met her. When he could otherwise be swimming in a pool of pussy and choses not to in the macho environment of a college football locker room, he embellishes this to include meeting, talking every night, etc so the story sounds more socially acceptable. Then he is the victim of the death hoax. So I'm guessing it's the story of an insecure immature child, in which case i really feel bad for him to have to go through this so publicly

I read the article and I'm still utterly confused. What the hell was the point of all this? I get the increased sympathy publicity but it doesn't make any sense past that. This is as strange as it gets.

1 - He and this other dude invented the hoax to help him gain sympathy and therefore Heisman support

2 - He came up with a beard story and it spun out of control

3 - He truly was catfished, figured it out, and created the death story as cover

The problem with the last two is why kill her off? Why not just say it ended and move on? Also, in all three scenarios he is in on the lie at least partially. Therefore I think he was in on it the whole time. Now he will feign being a victim so as to not have to admit he was a liar.

I'm starting to question whether Teo is real. Now that I think of it, I dont remember him playing in the NC game, can anyone provide evidence to support his existence? Maybe post a picture of him and his girlfr...oh...

1. Notre benefitted from this story greatly yet did not issue a statement when they found out (before the big game so why get bad publicity)

2. Even if Manti Teo was duped, that he could be moved to the point of tears for someone so much but not even to console with her family upon death suggests that he should not have made it a big deal to the press.

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

It says that statement was released Tuesday afternoon. Deadspin story is just a few hours old. Why was this statement issued? Who was it issued to? Why was it not covered at all? Why is only ESPN reportiing this statement and, to my knowledge, no other news sites?

Either there's some misreporting going on, or I don't know. Not to mention that the syntax and structure of that doesn't start out like an official statement. Starting a statement with "This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about" tells me that obviously this statement was prepared sometime between the 26th when ND found out and before the Deadspin story was published. Both this statement and ND's official statement had to have been pre-written and ready for release ONLY, and I repeat, ONLY, if the story broke. Otherwise, it would be covered up forever, not that it should surprise anyone.

Of course, assuming this statement is legit.

EDIT: It seems that CBS has stated the statement was made Wednesday now. Bad error by ESPN, come on guys...

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. "To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. "It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life. "I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been. "In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was. "Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

Sounds like a classic case of meeting a beatiful woman online, only to find out she was a 40 year old dude. Anyhow I am not buying his story, since he was fine with rolling with all the goodwill until he got caught.

Total bullshit. ND coverup as usual. Who would go through the effort to perpetrate this hoax? Creating a fake persona, speaking to T'eo nightly for months? For what? I've seen Tommy Boy, the real money is when you marry the bastard. Not faking a death.

you still talk to them on the phone once in a while, for conjugal phone visits and whatnot in a pinch. That way, even if you're talking to a 20 year old who turns out to be a 56 year old, at least you're still in the right ballpark with gender. It's called "voice verify," kids.

I mean, um, a friend told me this. I assume it to be true since I don't even use the interweb.

...who in the living hell perpetrates something like this? Does the obvious answer of "nobody" nulify his claim that he was a victim? That's a Sawyer-esque long con, but for what gain? Simply to embarass him? No financial reason or other reason? Fascinating, this whole thing is just beyond fascinating.

Okay here's why I believe Te'o: this story got no attention prior to "her" "death." If this was actually a publicity stunt he was carying on a fake long-distance relationship with someone for years and talking about it so that he could cash in on her fake death years later? That makes no sense.

I can't believe someone would craft a story like this to earn sympathy points (if that is indeed the case). Either way, this whole thing is messed up, and the fact that ND sat on it and used it leading up the championship game is seriously fucked up.

I can buy overblowing an online affair, or getting convinced someone is someone they say they are, and aren't. But man, they're replaying the ESPN interview, and there's too much BS in the story. Went to sleep on the phone together....do people go to that effort for a joke? And of course ESPN didn't follow up on any pictures, no death notice, accident report, or contacting the family.

I don't think Te'o's a victim, but he probably should be pitied. He obviously has some serious issues, and other than 10 minutes of fame, I'm not sure what he got out of it. Second place in Heisman voting? Not going to be worth it when his 10 minutes turns into 10 weeks of infamy.

1. He fell for a girl he "met" online. He started having feelings for her and at least saw "attractive" pictures so he thought it was real. He felt somewhat silly about it so he made up the parts about meeting the girl, visiting in Hawaii, etc. He was essentially duped but he contributed somewhat.

2. He was in on this from the beginning, him and some friends having fun maybe. Seems kinda odd to kill off a fake person though right? Unless it was for fame and empathy.

3. He was in a gay relationship with that Tuoisoopsid0pu (sp?) kid. They made up this girl so they could profess "love" to each other and not "out" him nationally. Then things got a bit crazy b/c people were starting to look into this, so they killed her off, and he benefited from it on a national stage.

Those are the 3 main ways this can go, in my opinion. What do you guys think?

5) The Eagles really wanted Brian Kelly and set-up this whole scheme in an attempt to lure him away. Story broke later than anticipated. Accidentally hired a "Chip Kelly" in the meantime unaware that their master plan had failed.

I guess he could have been duped and been really in love with this person...he made up a bunch of details post-death just to make his feelings credible to the average person who might not have extended the same sympathy if they had known the details.

I'm not sure about a gay relationship. I mean I know that sports coverage is crazy but they really haven't sunk as low as to follow college players around to see who and how often they are dating. On the othe hand, if there was a buzz on the ground that he was gay maybe he needed the cover in his daily life and it grew out of hand. And if he was so compelled I think it would probably be more about football culture than the university.

Strangely a red flag went up for me when I heard him emotionally talking about the support he had received from Kelly during the Heisman interviews. That didn't seem true given the stories I've heard from others who have played for him.

At the very least by their own statements issued this very day of knowing the falseness of the narative being promulgated in the national press prior to the BCS Championship game and did nothing to correct it.

Nor once that game had concluded did they reveal a damned thing until push came to shove.